Kauwboy

A beautiful, award-winning drama selected for the Festival, and especially for young audiences, by a team of young programmers from Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Open Door Film Club, in partnership with the Festival, and with Berwick Youth Project, present the moving story of a lively 10-year-old named Jojo (Rick Lens), living with his volatile father (Loek Peters) in rural Holland, and the relationship he builds with a baby Jackdaw.

“This film tells a story of a young boy named Jojo and the relationship that he makes with a baby jackdaw after he finds it fallen out of the nest. The audience follows their relationship as it progresses, seeing how it affects the very complicated bond he has with his father. You see how difficult Jojo finds his home life and how the baby jackdaw that he has taken in helps him cope, and even helps to repair his broken relationship with his father.This was one of the most moving films I have ever watched. It has a great enthralling storyline which will make you on the edge of your seat throughout. It has a whole mix of emotions with lots of laughter but so much sorrow at the same time, even a touch of romance thrown in. It is truly fantastic and I promise that you will be crying at many points throughout the film.”
- Open Door Film Club

“Enthusiastically received by young audiences around the world, Kauwboy is a children’s film made with a child’s eye. Fast-paced, impulsive and immersive… Few children’s films succeed in getting as close to the world as children experience it as this one does. It’s a masterful piece of work and fantastic family viewing.”

– Jennie Kermode, Eye for Film

Director’s Profile

Boudewijn Koole majored in Industrial Design at the University of Delft, then trained as a documentary filmmaker. His films often focus on children or young people, and illusion takes a central theme in his work: “Film is illusion, a game of light which confronts us with our hidden desires”. He also works as an editor with a youth television series and is a member of the advisory board of Stimuleringsfonds, one of the leading Dutch art funds. Kauwboy won the Best Feature at Berlinale 2012.